A truth once learnt…
by CalamityKat
Summary: A truth, once learnt, can seldom be unlearnt. / Chihaya
1. Prologue

**A truth once learnt…**

A truth, once learnt, can seldom be unlearnt.

**Prologue**

**November**

Chihaya placed a steadying hand against the wall and lowered her body to the ground. With her legs tucked underneath her, she leant her back against the cool, hard tiles of the Ootsuka Karuta Meeting Hall. Her panicked breaths and beating heart were slowly returning to their normal rate, but her eyes, usually so bright with excitement, would take far longer to lose their glazed expression. Turning her face heavenwards Chihaya stared blankly at the darkening sky. Her_ body_ might be sitting outside the Ootsuka Hall but her _mind _was clearly elsewhere.

From inside, an excited hubbub arose as the voices of friends, family and supporters congratulated this year's Meijin and Queen Challengers. Chihaya was vaguely aware of the fact that her own friends would be looking for her but, right now, she just wanted to be alone.

_How had her world changed so suddenly? _She had heard it said that truths, once learned, can seldom be unlearnt. She was just now realising the accuracy of that statement; because the truth was, Arata loved her. And now that she knew, what was she supposed to _do_?

From the minute the words had left his mouth, it was as though her mind had shut down. She hadn't been able to think... hadn't known _what_ to think. How were you supposed to respond, when someone told you that they loved you?

Then, after the initial shock, her mind had gone into over drive. Flattery, confusion, dismay, excitement, embarrassment, fear, giddiness, hope, disbelief… all of these feelings and more. She hadn't known it was possible for one person to experience so many emotions at once. Her body, too, had not known how to respond. While her heart had done its best to beat right out of her chest, her stomach had tied itself into knots. She felt physically sick. And happy, too. Was that normal?

Kana-chan was right. She didn't know the first _thing_ about love...

A sudden round of applause broke out from the hall behind, startling Chihaya from her reverie. The presentation ceremony would soon be over. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She wasn't quite ready to return... Not just yet...

At the sound of approaching footsteps her eyes flew open. "Chihaya?" she heard a familiar voice calling and, as she turned her face that way, she saw Taichi standing at the corner of the building. His breath fogged in the cooling air and his cheeks were tinged with red. Chihaya stood up, suddenly nervous. It wouldn't do to let Taichi see her acting like such a… such a… such a _girl! _He'd probably tease her and laugh at her. She didn't want that. So, dusting herself off, she walked towards him; ready to re-join her friends and celebrate Harada Sensei's victory.

If she hadn't been so distracted by her own thoughts she might have noticed that Taichi, too, was strangely preoccupied. As it was, the pair walked towards the Meeting Hall's entrance, each wrapped up in their own personal dilemmas and tangled emotions.

And emotions, Chihaya would soon come to realise, can be every bit as exhausting as physical effort.


	2. Chapter One

_**Chapter One**_

Chihaya's heart sank as she turned the pages of her text book. Maths would _never_ be her friend. Right now, she couldn't even call it an acquaintance_._ The beauty of its language, of its patterns and its order, seemed to slip right past her. It was a miracle that she had ever passed her exams. Even with her cousin's tutoring and the help of her friends, Chihaya had still been worried that she might fail. She'd had so many other things on her mind that concentrating on her schoolwork had been almost impossible. It had been three months now since Arata confessed his love to her. Three months since Harada-sensei had become the Meijin challenger. Three months since _she _had realised just how _desperately_ she wanted to play in a match like the challenger finals. And those three months had turned out to be the most emotionally draining of her life.

To start with, she'd been so wrapped up in Arata's confession that her friends had accused her of "spacing out" all the time. In any quiet moment, when she wasn't entirely focused on karuta or struggling through her exams, she had found her mind drifting back to that day. It was the first time a boy had ever said he_ loved_ her. But then, somewhere along the way, Arata's confession had become entangled with the matches she had witnessed, images of him and Harada sensei battling it out mixing _with_ the words of love. As time went on, it had become harder to separate the two. And then, as she'd watched the Queen and Meijin decider in mid-January, Chihaya had realised that she couldn't let Arata's confession worry her forever_. _She'd already decided on her path. She wanted to get stronger in karuta. No, she _needed_ to get stronger. Nothing else was important right now. She wanted to become Queen and, until then, boys and romance and declarations of love were completely _off-limits._ Deciding _this_ was like discovering she could breathe again. The panic and confusion had abated, and her focus and drive had returned with a deadly passion.

Chihaya glanced back to the problems she was supposed to be working on, the numbers and letters jumbling together in her mind's eye. _Too hard_, she thought, closing her book with a snap. In the background her teacher's voice droned on, providing explanation after explanation, but Chihaya was no longer listening. Instead, she had turned her head to stare out of the window, looking down to the courtyard below. The sakura trees were just coming into bloom, the tiny white flowers clinging to the branches like flakes of snow. The image made her think of the _Hana sasou_ poem, its lines running through her head.

"_Not the snow of flowers,_

_That the hurrying wind whirls_

_Round the Garden Court:_

_What withers and falls away_

_In this place is I myself."_

_I'm __withering away,_ Chihaya thought, dejectedly. There was just one week to go before the end of term. Exams had finished last week, so why did they have to sit through another whole week of school? Why couldn't the holidays start _now_? An extra week to practise karuta was exactly what she needed! With a sigh, Chihaya placed her chin in her open palm, resting her elbows upon the desk. She watched as a faint breeze stirred the blossoms outside, sending a flurry of petals raining down. _I'd rather be playing karuta, or cleaning out the club room, or thinking up ways to recruit new club members, or..._There were a lot of things she'd rather be doing right now, almost _all_ of them karuta related. Chihaya glanced at her watch, wondering just how much more of this torture she still had to sit through before she could escape to the club room. Her eyes widened in horror. _Ten minutes? A whole __**ten minutes**__ before the bell went?! Ugh! _Dismally, she turned her attention back to the window and the courtyard below. At the far end, a group of students appeared, laughing and chatting happily. _How unfair, _thought Chihaya! _Why can't my class finish early? _

As she watched them, she thought she recognised one or two of their faces. That boy there, Naka...Nakami-... Naka _something, _he was in Taichi's class, wasn't he? Chihaya was sure she'd seen them talking together. Sure enough, Taichi walked into view just seconds later. He was laughing at something the small boy beside him had said. _Desktomu, _thought Chihaya. _Grrrr! He and Taichi are so lucky. _One of the boys up ahead called out to Taichi, and he smiled as a soccer ball was kicked his way.

Chihaya recalled how soccer had once been a major part of his life. Practise every Wednesday, matches every Saturday, posters on his bedroom wall…But he'd given all of that up to start a karuta club with her. Come to think of it, she really ought to thank him for that… But that would just be weird. Besides, isn't that what friends were supposed to do? Support each other? Of _course_ Taichi had wanted to help her. And, if he ever wanted to play soccer again, she'd… talk him out of it, obviously! Because, really, why would he want to play soccer when he could be playing karuta with her?! Chihaya smiled to herself. She was certainly lucky in her choice of friends.

As she watched, one of the boys kicked the ball somewhat harder than he had expected. A shout went up as it sailed through the air. It was headed straight for the glass panelling above the courtyard's door. Taichi's eyes widened in horror and, dumping his schoolbag on the grass, he ran and leapt, catching it just before it smashed against the panes. The other students quickly rushed to him, laughing and slapping him on the back.

Chihaya let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. When they were in elementary school together, she and Taichi had competed to see who could jump the highest, aiming to touch the top of the door frame. Once, one of their teachers had caught them out and they'd been made to stand in the hallway throughout all of lunch. Back then, it had seemed as though they'd _never_ be tall enough to do it. Run and jump though they might, they never even came _close_ to reaching the top.

_When did Taichi grow so tall? _Chihaya wondered.

While all of this had been going on, Chihaya's teacher had slowly realised that all of the students sitting nearest to the windows had completely lost interest in their bookwork. They were all staring down avidly at something that was happening in the courtyard below. His eyes narrowed when he realised that all of those students were female. "Girls," he barked, "is there something outside I need to know about?" Startled, Chihaya looked around in surprise, noticing as she did so that all down her row, other girls were turning back guiltily. One or two were giggling. Chihaya's mouth tightened and for some reason she suddenly felt angry. One of the boys in the next row across went to the window and looked out, saying "It's Mashima and Nakamichi, sir. They're kicking a soccer ball about." Across the room, Chihaya heard Nikuman snort. Her teacher's face began to darken. Thankfully, the bell went before he could reprimand them for their inattention. Chihaya snatched up her bag and sprinted for the door, anxious to get to the club room. She was going to make Taichi play _at least_ two matches against her. She had to get stronger and the best way to day that was to practise against strong opponents.

* * *

**A/N: **Thank you to Ravenanne25 and Biribiri_chan for reviewing (and to anyone else who has read this far!) I know it's not great, but I felt as though the Chihayafuru section needed its 100th story!


	3. Chapter Two

_**Chapter Two**_

As he walked through the open courtyard, Taichi found himself laughing at Komano's joke. It might not have been _that _funny but, with the afternoon sun warming his face and the scent of wisteria heavy in the air, Taichi was simply too happy to care.

It was the final week of term and his whole class had been let out early. Apparently it was a reward for having done so well on their exams, scoring higher overall than any of the other classes. Although it was often denied by staff, it was widely known that the students in Class 1 were the best and brightest.

_Well, maybe not that bright_, Taichi had to admit. After all, he'd done some remarkably silly things of late. Three months ago, right after the East vs West challengers, he'd decided he was going to do his absolute best when it came to Chihaya, even going so far as to claim to the Meijin that Chihaya _was _his girlfriend. Taichi still wasn't quite sure what had made him to do that... Jealousy? Anger? Concern? Determination? Hope?

Whatever the reason, as he'd said the words out loud, he'd realised just how desperately he wanted them to be true. Chihaya might have her sights set so firmly on karuta that there was no room in her head for him, but Taichi wasn't going to give up on her that easily.

Karuta might be her whole world, but she was his.

Overhead, the sakura trees dipped and swayed as a sudden breeze stole through the courtyard, stirring the blossoms and sending hundreds of tiny white petals fluttering down. Some of the girls began to laugh and squeal, holding out their hands to catch the falling flakes. The sound recalled Taichi to his surroundings and, with the ghost of a smile playing about his lips, he glanced up at the windows lining the second storey. His eyes travelled along the row, stopping when he reached the middle.

_There_, thought Taichi. _That's where class 9 would be._

Class 9. Chihaya's class.

"Hey, Mashima," a voice called out. Taichi tore his gaze from the windows and grinned as a soccer ball was kicked towards him. He trapped it with his right foot then flicked it up into the air, bouncing it off his knee. With a laugh, he let fall to the ground once more before sending it back to Nakamichi with a kick.

As he passed the ball back and forth with his classmates, Taichi's mind began to wander. He thought back to when he was a child and how, at that time, soccer had seemed the most important thing in his life. Back then, he had been determined to become a world class soccer player _and_ a surgeon. Since starting high school, however, he hadn't even played one game. Hadn't even _thought_ about soccer… Not since Chihaya had come back into his life in her whirlwind way, catching him up and carrying him along in her wake. Soccer was his past, but karuta was his present. Taichi had made his choice and he didn't regret it. He knew that a _part_ of him had only agreed to help Chihaya out because he couldn't stand seeing her so upset; he'd do anything to make her happy, to help her achieve her dream…

…but it wasn't _just_ for her. He was doing it for himself, too. Karuta had worked its way into his skin. He'd-

A sudden shout went up, startling Taichi. Shaking his head, he looked up just in time to see the soccer ball go sailing through the air. His eyes widened when he saw its' trajectory. Without thinking, Taichi dropped his bag and started running. He threw himself forward, reaching upwards just in time to snatch the ball before it smashed against the glass panelling. Taichi dropped back to the ground, stumbling slightly. _Whoa, _he thought. _That was close!_ _A few more seconds and we'd have been in BIG trouble!_

With a grin, he looked around at his classmates, ducking his head and blushing when they started slapping him on the back and congratulating him on his amazing save. None of them wanted to face the wrath of their headmaster, and if that window had been broken…Well, it didn't bear thinking about!

Once more, Taichi found his eye drawn towards the windows of the second storey. His heart leapt when he caught Chihaya's face staring out of one of them. He smiled up at her, hoping she might wave back. _That girl, _he thought. _She's never paying attention when she needs to be! I bet she's thinking about karuta. Probably hasn't even realised that I'm down here! _Taichi hadn't noticed that the other windows in Chihaya's class were lined with faces, all female, all staring down at him in admiration. As he watched, Chihaya suddenly pulled back, returning her attention to the front of the class, where Taichi could just make out the shape of her teacher. Taichi felt his heart sinking.

She hadn't noticed him.

Turning away with a sigh, Taichi reached down for his bag and slung it over his shoulder. Every day he hoped that Chihaya would notice him; notice him the way that _he_ noticed _her_. But even now, after three months of doing his best, nothing much had changed. She was still an oblivious, passionate karuta baka, and he was still just her childhood friend.

As the bell rang out, signalling an end for the day's classes, Taichi waved goodbye to his friends and hurried after Komano. He caught up to him at the courtyard's northern door. Falling into step, the pair made their way towards the karuta team's club room. Spring Break might only be five days away, but none of them were slacking off. The whole team had agreed to meet up for practices every day this week. Well, "agreed" probably wasn't _quite_ the right word for it. "Forced by Chihaya" was a more _accurate_ description. She was already counting down the days until this year's Queen and Meijin qualifiers. Taichi shook his head when he realised it was his turn to play against her today. The last time they'd played, he'd beaten her by two cards and Chihaya had not taken it well, immediately demanding a rematch. _Today's_ match promised to be brutal. She'd _definitely_ be out for revenge. Taichi sighed once more. _And the afternoon started out so nicely_, he thought.

Little did he know that within the next 48 hours his happiness would suffer a far more serious blow.


End file.
